


i never did get along with everybody else

by gooseberry



Series: Listen to the Never [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/F, Female Gladiolus Amicitia, Female Ignis Scientia, Female Noctis Lucis Caelum, Hurt/Comfort, Paparazzi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22950250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooseberry/pseuds/gooseberry
Summary: Ignis closes the webpage, then pushes the laptop away. “The king,” she says apologetically, “agreed that you should be told.”--Various short fics about fem!Noct's unhappy relationship with the paparazzi and an overly-voyeuristic public.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Series: Listen to the Never [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1089999
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the '100 words of unwanted attention' prompt.

Noct looks at the photo again—her face, surprised and unhappy, as she emerges from the car; a Crownsguard in the foreground, trying to block the photographer—then taps to the next photo. This one she doesn’t recognize: she’s in plain trousers and a jacket, standing with Prompto in front of a row of storefronts. Maybe they were waiting for Ignis or a Citadel driver, or maybe they were trying to decide where to eat. 

The next photo’s pretty much the same: Noct sitting on a bench outside the Citadel Station, looking at her phone; it’s anonymous and impossible to date, and that is the most discomforting thing about photos like these. They’re photos of her, living her life, but she doesn’t recognize them; she can’t bring to mind the date or the occasion, can’t pinpoint which moment in her life has been splashed up on the internet for everyone to gawk at. It’s like she’s a stranger in her own life.

“Iggy said another site went up,” Gladio says when she enters the room. 

Noct locks her phone and slides it beneath her leg, refusing to look up. She doesn’t want to see pity on Gladio’s face—she’s already seen enough on Ignis’s face, and on the faces of everyone she’s run into at the Citadel today. 

“It doesn’t bother me,” she lies, like she had this morning. This morning, Ignis had frowned more, then had held her close for a long time, until Noct’s heart had stopped beating so hard.

Gladio’s not Ignis, though. Gladio’s shoes squeak when she stops in front of Noct, and she kicks at Noct’s foot as she asks, “You wanna train? I’ll give you a couple free shots if you want ‘em.”

Noct huffs, but when Gladio holds out her hand, Noct reaches up and takes it, letting Gladio pull her to her feet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the '100 words of paying someone famous for a voice clip' prompt.

_What, no!_ There’s laughter, then: _It’s huge!_

Noct can’t remember what it was, what she’d been laughing about, or what she’d been surprised by; she can’t even remember when this must’ve been recorded, or who she might’ve been with. Is it even her voice? But then, does that even matter?

Ignis closes the webpage, then pushes the laptop away. “The king,” she says apologetically, “agreed that you should be told.”

“Okay,” Noct says, her mouth dry and her voice creaky. It doesn’t sound like the recording, and she’s not sure what she’s even supposed to sound like. Not like this, but not like the ringtones Ignis has been playing for her, either. None of them sound right. Her voice cracks again when she asks, “Are there worse ones?”

She can already imagine them, the innocuous words that aren’t so innocuous as soon as they’re clipped and buffed and recontextualized to whatever creepers want on their phones: _It’s sticky,_ when her ice cream melted onto her hand; _Too tight,_ when she was stuck on a crowded train with Prompto; _No, don’t stop,_ when paparazzi were trying to swarm her car. _You’re perfect_ , or _Done already?_

_I love you,_ from any time she was standing beside her dad. 

She feels disgusting. She wants to tear out of her vocal cords, or maybe rip out her tongue; she wants to turn off the internet, and the rest of the outside world as well. She just wants to be left alone.

“I’m sorry,” Ignis tells her, and Noct scrubs her hands over her eyes, wondering if someone has a ringtone of her crying, too.


End file.
